AZ Snakepit: The 2010 Interview with Josh Byrnes, Part One

AZ: It’s interesting you talking about younger players. There was an article at Fangraohs.com where David Cameron said older players might be the new market inefficiency, because “everyone” is trending young. Any thoughts as to whether that might be the case?

JB: Maybe - I think there’s always a pendulum in the game. There was probably an exaggerated taste for college players in the draft a few years ago, and when that happens, it makes high-school players more valuable. The fifth high-school player drafted or tenth high-school player drafted, maybe “should” go in the twenties, and now he was getting pushed to the second-round. That’s really the story of this whole decade. People chasing defensive metrics now, or young players. Is there a point at which the pendulum swings too far? It’s why, as information-savvy as we think we are, we’re generally not the organization espousing the newest philosophy and going, “Dammit, we’ll show you how smart we are.” We’ll probably take a longer view, and understand where our opportunities are in the marketplace to get the right players.

AZ: Both LaRoche and Johnson mentioned that one of the things attracting them to Arizona was its reputation as a good hitting park. Is this something you pitch to free agent hitters?

JB: Yes, but not necessarily in that respect. It’s funny, we’re aware of the ballpark, park factors, how it affects the outcomes of OPS+ or ERA+. On the other hand, there’s also watching how it turns out. I think it’s a good offensive ballpark: I don’t think it’s a bandbox, it does help singles, doubles, triples and homers, but it’s not an exaggerated park as some are.

The flip side is, our road environment is very, very difficult on our hitters. We play in a division that’s had great pitching, we play nine series a year in California, at least, so it’s going to create a divide. Playing for the Diamondbacks, yes, home games, perfect weather, good ballpark to hit in. That’s great - but our road schedule is difficult or an offensive player.

Talking to those two guys, we talked much more about our team, our environment, and we felt like our capabilities of winning. Those were the points we were trying to make and I think those factored into their decisions too.